Country Overview

Burma, referred to as Myanmar by the current military regime, is the largest country by geographical area in mainland Southeast Asia. With arguably the richest history of any Southeast Asian nation, the country has been ravaged by more than 50 years of authoritarian government-driven war.

Democratic rule ended in 1962 after a military coup and since then the resource-strong country of Burma has become one of the world’s most impoverished countries. The democratic elected leader, Aung San Suu Kyi has spent 14 of the last 20 years on house arrest while the current military junta strategically plots to destroy its over 100 ethnic minorities.

Human rights abuses include rape, torture, forced labor, conscription of child soldiers and mass murder, which have all been included in the actions of the Burmese government on a yearly basis. Burma currently has more child soldiers than any other country in the world.

Due to outright neglect by the existing government, any services normally offered by a government are not given to the people of Burma. In addition, the ethnic minority groups of eastern Burma face an even heavier task of surviving without services while also being systematically exterminated. As a result, the lack of healthcare and support services has left the minority groups of this region in one of the worst humanitarian situations in the world.

GRI's Work in Burma

GRI has been working to serve refugees and internally displaced people of Burma since 2001. GRI’s main goal for this project is to teach, equip and empower local workers to provide care for the millions of their fellow suffering people inside the devastated areas of Burma.